


Cursed by the universe (Not really)

by BooksandKpop



Category: ASTRO (Band), 크나큰 | KNK (Band)
Genre: ASTRO focused ft other 2016 rookie groups, Embarrassing moments, M/M, Not betad, and gugudan, and yet i made it to almost 7.5k words, anyway i hope you enjoyed this mess, based on a prompt, best friends binu, best friends myungjin, but i went way off topic, for an amino fanfic challenge, i want to do a knk spin off for this au too, like knk, or at least they think so anyway, school au, snuper - Freeform, stop me please, this was meant to be a short fluffy drabble, universe cursed my two boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 01:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12025314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BooksandKpop/pseuds/BooksandKpop
Summary: Based on a prompt from ASTRO Amino."I once went on a field trip with some students from a neighboring school. There was this tall and cute boy from that school. Anyway...we were walking in a line and all the kids were busy taking pictures while I was busy talking to my friends behind me. So I wasn't looking in front of me and one of my friends told me to look out. It was too late though. I bumped into him..."





	Cursed by the universe (Not really)

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so while this was supposed to be based on the prompt given, mine went way off topic and turned from a drabble into this mess. It strays a little from the original context of the prompt and I added a lot of after incident detail, but the core idea is still there. I have a lot of other idol cameos and now I have the idea in my head to write the KNK version of this, but I'm going to work on my SF9 fics first. Anyway, this is my first time writing for this fandom, I hope you liked it and please leave feedback or comments! (They make me happy!)
> 
> Also if you want you can come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/impy96) , I love new friends and also I have started cross-posting my work onto there!

Park Jinwoo did not like field trips. Sure they were a fantastic learning resource, and it was a well-needed break from the monotony of the classroom - but he always had the worst luck when he went on one. For example; his first ever field trip was to the local park back in his old elementary school. It was just a short trip to look at the different types of trees, and collect leaves for their art project. Nothing too dramatic happened until right at the end, when their teacher was recalling the class to head back to the school. Jinwoo heard her calling them, and as he was walking back somehow tripped over his shoelaces - how did they come undone? - and landed face first in a puddle. His brand new school bag was now soaking wet - along with the rest of him, and his classmates just laughed at his misfortune. That was the first of many incidents with Jinwoo on field trips, they usually ended with him making a fool of himself and people laughing at him. It had been quite some time since he had been on a field trip though, so maybe his curse of bad luck had worn off by now? He was in high school after all, and you can’t be unlucky all your life - at least that was his best friend Myungjun’s reasoning.

So after a few days of constant begging from Myungjun and whining from his next door neighbour Sanha (“Hyung if I can’t go because I’m too young then you have to go for me and tell me everything about it, that’s only fair!”), Jinwoo handed in his signed permission slip for the overnight trip to an island resort. Really though, there were so many other places their school could have chosen to go for their Geography field trip; if it was the beach they wanted then there was one only an hour away from the school, and if it was for the forests then why not just go to the National Park? Why did it have to be an overnight trip anyway? More time outside of school while still technically being “in school” gave the universe extra opportunities to mess with Jinwoo. He made sure to grumble all of this to his friends as he was packing a bag for their trip.

“Don’t be ridiculous Jinjin, the universe wouldn’t waste her precious time just messing with you on field trips - it’s all in your head.”

“Oh really? Then explain to me how every field trip I’ve ever been on in the past ten years of my life has all involved some embarrassing incident on my behalf?”

Jinwoo added one last spare t-shirt to his suitcase and done a mental tally. That brought it to; two pairs of jeans, three pairs of shorts (one for swimming), two shirts, five t-shirts, one tank top (for sleeping), a hoodie and a warm outdoor jacket. There were also four pairs of underwear, six pairs of socks, spare shoes, two towels, a mini first aid kit and an extra belt. Compared to Myungjun’s small overnight bag - sleepwear, a change of t-shirt, socks, and a pair of shorts in case it was really warm - Jinwoo was overpacked. But he could never be too careful; there was no way he would let the universe catch him unprepared, a four-hour bus ride from home. Sanha eyed up his full suitcase and pinned him with a judgemental look. For a kid who was two years their junior, he really had no shame in speaking his mind to them both. 

“It’s been almost two years since you were last on a field trip right hyung?”

“You know it was Sanha, you were there on my las-”  
“Soooooo, maybe whatever bad luck curse you were under before has worn off! Most of those things don’t last too long anyway, right? Like breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck but I can’t think of any that would be ten years in length. So yeah, you’ll be fine! Make sure to take lots of pictures for me ok?”

Myungjun laughed and clapped Sanha on the back, the kid was just so full of energy and positivity it was hard not to smile around him. Jinwoo just shook his head and sighed, as much as Sanha might believe his curse was lifted, there was still a feeling of dread in his stomach. Before he could change his mind last minute, his mother called up saying the bus was outside. Myungjun had stayed the night in his house so they could get on together that morning (and also so he could make sure Jinwoo didn’t try to back out). They grabbed their bags; one with clothes and overnight essentials and their school bags with all the things they needed for the learning aspect of the trip and rushed downstairs. Saying goodbye to Sanha at the door and promising to bring him a gift back, the pair boarded the bus with the rest of their classmates and headed off.

He must have nodded off to sleep at some point on the journey because Jinwoo woke up to Myungjun snoring away on his shoulder and the smell of a sea breeze coming in the window of the bus. A quick look at his watch verified this, they were only twenty minutes from their destination. The weird fluttery feeling in his stomach intensified as they drove across the bridge to the island they were visiting, and he woke Myungjun up just as the resort came into view. His sleepy yawns turned into wide eyed gasps, as he flung himself across Jinwoo’s lap to look out the window at their destination. There was no blaming him, it looked incredible and all the other students on their side of the bus were scrambling to do the same. Everyone was suddenly wide awake and chatting excitedly, and the volume reached its peak as they pulled into the parking lot right inside the main entrance. As all the students from both classes got off the bus and retrieved their bags - Jinwoo was relieved to see he wasn’t the only one to bring a whole suitcase - they formed a messy huddle around the two teachers to hear what they had to say.

“Alright everyone, I hope the trip wasn’t too exhausting for you - I noticed quite a few sleepy heads boarding the bus this morning! We have a lot planned over these two days so it is very important we all stick to our schedules. But before we give you any information on our plans, Mr Im has a rather important announcement for you all.”

“Yes thank you, Ms Choi. So as you all know before I joined our wonderful little school as a teacher, I used to be part of the staff in FTG’s School of Excellence. Well, I met with an ex-colleague of mine, and he is also bringing his geography class here to this resort for a field trip! So in the interest of inter-school relations, we will be working and staying with them for the duration of our time here.”

All 58 students in the huddle suddenly fell silent at this. FTG was a private boarding school for boys and girls with exceptional talent in the same area as their own little public school. All the students were said to be incredibly beautiful and trained in various types of performance, as well as academics. A younger cousin of Jinwoo’s - Park Minhyuk - went to that school, he auditioned as a dancer and was accepted in a heartbeat. The only thing stopping Jinwoo from going to the school himself was Myungjun; his best friend couldn’t afford the private fees and there was no way Jinwoo was going to leave him to face high school alone. Everyone started murmuring amongst themselves, no doubt wondering if the rumours of all the students being perfect specimens were true, and Jinwoo felt his stomach knot up even more.

“All right settle down everyone, I know it is an unexpected announcement but we discussed it in the department and we all think it is a wonderful way to get to know the students your age from the other school. They will be arriving in an hour or so, but until then let’s all go over our own schedules ok?”

Ms Choi ran through the agenda for the next two days; they were to check in and leave their overnight bags in the resort rooms first, and then after meeting with the other school they would be split into mixed groups and start on their field work. Myungjun was babbling into Jinwoo’s ear as they made their way into the reception, gasping and squealing in excitement when he saw all the gorgeous decor inside. They were lucky enough to get a room together, but they were also one of the rooms that would be sharing with two students from FTG. After having a quick look around the room, claiming their bunk beds, and unpacking a few things (and Myungjun claiming “this is the biggest cleanest bathroom I have ever seen in my life just look at it!”), the pair made their way back down to the lobby where they were to wait for the others and be split into groups. 

“MJ, I really have a bad feeling about this whole trip. I mean I knew something embarrassing was going to happen while we were here, but now I get the suspicion that the universe is going to make a fool of me in front of the FTG students which will be a million times worse.”

“How many times do I have to say it Jinjin, the universe isn’t so petty she would waste her time on you here in this resort. In all honesty, after all the times you’ve managed to embarrass yourself on trips, I wouldn’t be surprised if the universe actually did you a favour this time.”

Jinwoo snorted at that, no way would anything good ever come from a field trip that he went on. He was doomed to be cursed for the rest of his life with misfortune and embarrassment. They made it back to their class groups in one piece, and everyone was chatting excitedly about the trip but also meeting the others. Jinwoo was convinced he heard a few girls giggling about maybe having a cliché romantic moment with one of the students. He rolled his eyes and flopped down on a chair next to Heejun, one of the guys from his class, and Myungjun joined them sitting on the floor. They spoke a little about the project and the kind of things they hoped to see on their tours of the island. Heejun was really hoping to get into the beach group, he didn’t want to walk around the forest where there were loads of bugs and things that could jump out at him. As Myungjun started teasing him about finding a tall, strong FTG guy to look after him, Jinwoo closed his eyes and let the constant noise chatter lull him to sleep. He was rudely shaken awake by a flustered Jihun, another boy from his class, flinging himself onto the floor beside him and almost dragging him off the couch. 

“Dude, what was that for?”

“Sorry, Jinwoo I really didn’t mean to pull on you like that. It’s just, the FTG students arrived and I saw the most handsome guy on the planet - and then realised I’ve made a fool of myself in front of him before so I had to hide before he saw me.”

Jinwoo sat up straight and looked around, it seemed like he just missed the class arriving and all he could see were uniformed backs disappearing around the corner toward the elevators and stairs. He wasn’t too bothered though, they would be seeing plenty of their peers over the next two days. As he stood, he offered a hand down to Jihun, who was still lying on the floor and helped pull him up. Of course, his help only lasted about half way - after which point Jihun dwarfed Jinwoo in height. 

Mr Im called them all outside so they could be split into their two groups. He explained that FTG’s teacher had already divided his group up and they would just join them at the start of their tour. Jinwoo was disappointed that he and Myungjun wouldn’t be together, while he was going to the beach his best friend was being shipped into the forest. Heejun was also in the forest group, much to his dismay, while Jihun was with Jinwoo for the beach. While most people would have considered Jinwoo to be a very outgoing and social person, he only really had a few close friends. He was happy Jihun was in his group, he also knew another guy called Sebin - who was in the other Geography class - and two girls from his own class named Sally and Sejeong. They were good enough friends that he could talk to them and discuss their project, so Jinwoo was determined he would stick with them and give the universe no opportunity to embarrass him in front of anyone from FTG.

They waved goodbye to the other group, Heejun and Jihun being the over-the-top pair they always were and dramatically crying and sending each other hearts and kisses. Jinwoo laughed and rolled his eyes as Myungjun jumped on Heejun’s back to wave to him as they separated. Their group made their way down to the beach, the sun was out but there was a chilly sea breeze so he was happy he wore a hoodie. After about ten minutes of waiting with their island tour guide, the eleven students from FTG made their appearance. Jihun had been doing his trademark aegyo to make a few of the others in their class laugh when he suddenly screeched and tried to hide behind Jinwoo, despite being a good 10cm taller than him. When Jinwoo looked at the group who had just arrived, he could only assume one of them was the handsome boy from earlier that Jihun had been trying to hide from. He only could assume, because there were four guys in the group who Jinwoo thought could have fit the description of “most handsome guy on the planet” - their yearbook must be like a modelling catalogue or something. 

Ms Choi introduced the group’s leader, a teaching assistant by the name of Ms Jung - who herself was an ex-student of FTG. The FTG students all introduced themselves, and Jihun inhaled sharply when a certain Park Seungjun spoke - Jinwoo could relate, his voice was deeper than expected and he was even taller than Jihun. The student who caught Jinwoo’s attention most though was Cha Eunwoo. He was tall - probably about the same height as Jihun, if not slightly shorter - but his voice was clear as crystal and his smile was angelic. The weird feeling Jinwoo had in his stomach since crossing the bridge to the island suddenly changed, and now he had butterflies whenever this Eunwoo person laughed. The universe had started her plot, but Jinwoo was determined not to let it come to fruition.

For the most part of their tour and work time on the beach, Jinwoo managed to avoid any mishaps that could lead to embarrassment. He played off his stumble going down onto the rocks as messing about; when the water suddenly rushed over their feet he held in his girlish shriek, and when he slipped on a bit of seaweed going back up towards the resort, he pretended he had purposefully done it to give Sebin a hug. Success was within his reach, no outright moments of mortification and he had even managed to avoid being in the presence of Eunwoo while they were collecting their samples and taking photos. Jinwoo thought that he was finally getting the upper hand against the universe in her game of field trip failures. 

Their whole group moved to an outdoor patio area, with delicate parasols set up around the tables and some tall flower pots filled with colourful, fragrant flowers decorating the space. They had to pair up to compare the notes they took and begin to analyse their samples for the project. Jihun had practically jumped on Jinwoo and insisted they partnered up. Apparently, he had made a fool of himself in front of Seungjun twice during the course of the beach work, and he refused to possibly get paired up with him for this too. Jinwoo laughed a little and patted his tall friends back, he could relate to embarrassing himself on trips enough and offered his support. They had gotten a lot of work done in their allocated hour, and when the two teachers called for them to finish up and head back to the main resort area, the students all cheered with relief. As they were packing up, everyone started spreading out to take photos of the sun setting on the beach or the twinkling lights that had turned on over the patio. They had all started walking in a line away from the seating area and Jinwoo somehow ended up right behind Eunwoo, but fortunately, he was talking to another super tall, handsome FTG student in front of him (Jinwoo was pretty sure his name was Rowoon). Jinwoo turned around and started talking to the two girls behind him as they walked, not paying much attention to the boy in front of him since he believed to have finally beaten his bad luck curse. 

They were almost back at the resort when Jinwoo’s illusion of good luck was shattered. Looking back now, he really should have been paying more attention and this would never have happened. Sally had even tried to warn him, but unfortunately, she was too late - the universe had finally gotten her chance to cause another embarrassing moment for Jinwoo on field trips. The students in front of Jinwoo had walked further than them, probably due to their extra long legs and the fact they weren’t looking backwards while talking. Jinwoo had been craning his neck while looking behind him to see Jihun walking with that Seungjun guy from FTG, Sebin was also talking to another FTG student called Sunghyuk just in front of them. He was just about to joke with the girls how their other friends were definitely getting to know their fellow students when he noticed Sally waving her arms at him. He then noticed that she and Sejeong had both stopped walking and just as he was about to ask them what was wrong, he felt himself collide with something (or someone) in front of him. Jinwoo wasn’t even walking that fast honestly, not fast enough that the force of suddenly stopping would cause him to fall over. But when he quickly turned around he saw it was Eunwoo he had crashed into, and the shock of seeing such a tall cute guy so close to him made Jinwoo fall backwards and land on his butt. The universe had finally gotten to embarrass him, and in front of an FTG student no less. Jinwoo was completely mortified; if falling over after crashing into him wasn’t bad enough, he had somehow managed to land in a puddle on the ground and his jeans were being slowly soaked through.

Of course, since he had managed to avoid this all day, the universe was being particularly cruel to him in this moment. As Eunwoo leaned down to offer him a hand and pull him up (his hands were soft and he was quite strong, Jinwoo noted), the shorter boy saw that the forest group had returned at a similar time and most likely had seen his accident. Jinwoo felt his face flush crimson, he quickly thanked Eunwoo for helping him and apologised for bumping into him, then walked as quickly as he could into the lobby without actually breaking into a run. He heard someone call his name, it might have been Eunwoo in which case he was glad he didn’t stop. All he wanted to do was go hide in his room and die, maybe he could convince Ms Choi he was sick tomorrow and avoid having to see Eunwoo and his cute face ever again. Just as he was turning the corner to get to his room, he felt a hand on his shoulder, he had been thinking so loudly he didn’t notice there was someone following him.

“Jinjin seriously are you gone deaf? I have been calling you since you all but sprinted away from that tall dude outside but you completely ignored me. Man, I need to do more cardio because running up those stairs after you was not fun.”

Trust Myungjun to give out about his fitness in moments like this. Jinwoo felt like he was actually going to cry, and he must have looked it too because his friend grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him the last few steps into their room. When they closed the door and switched on the lights, they saw the two other suitcases sitting unopened against the wall, which then reminded Jinwoo that he would have to spend the night with two FTG students who knew Eunwoo and more than likely saw his accident, and he wanted to die all over again. Before he could throw himself onto the bed and hope for the soft blankets to swallow him whole, Myungjun pushed him towards the bathroom.

“You need a shower for three reasons. Firstly; your butt is wet from the puddle you fell into, and I will not let you get sick. Second of all; your hair is a mess, probably from that sea breeze and salty water. And three; you need to clear your head and you’ve always said, you do your best thinking in the shower.”

His friend was right, Jinwoo hadn’t realised the second thing about his hair, but he figured that it didn’t matter much since he had already fallen over and embarrassed himself. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the shower. Just as he was about to turn on the water, he could have sworn he heard voices coming from the bedroom, but he ignored it and just went for his shower. Myungjun was right, the running water did help him to clear his thoughts and after he got changed and went out to the room he was feeling much better. Myungjun was sitting on the bed with a smug look on his face, and he brightly greeted Jinwoo when he came into the room. 

“MJ, you know I get nervous when you smile at me like that. What happened?”

“It’s nothing to worry about Jinjin, I promise! Now we have to go down for dinner so I hope you’ve gotten your thoughts together!”

Jinwoo didn’t trust his friend's words and narrowed his eyes at him to show as much. But the prospect of food after his long day out in the fresh air caused his stomach to grumble, so they both headed down. While he showered, his head had cleared up and Jinwoo realised that on the grand scale of things, what happened was not the worst by a long shot. The most embarrassing field trip mishap was still held by their dance team’s visit to the state championships, which resulted in a sprained ankle, burnt chest and having to pay a ridiculously high fee for dry-cleaning. It wasn’t exactly the least embarrassing either though, mainly due to the fact he had bumped into perhaps one of the most handsome guys he had ever met. As the pair made their way down to the restaurant, Jinwoo swore to himself he would make sure not to let the universe cause him any more hassle on this trip. He kept his head down as they entered the room, and looked around the table they were sat at with relief. Jihun, Heejun and Sebin were there, along with Sally and Sejeong, and a few others he knew well enough from his classes. The meal was bright and cheerful, Jihun made Jinwoo feel much better about his little incident by retelling all the times he had embarrassed himself in front of Seungjun (once before today, and so far five times and counting). He didn’t seem too upset about it though, laughing at his own mistakes and Heejun almost fell off his chair from laughing so hard at one point. Maybe Jinwoo wouldn’t have to hide away for the rest of the school year, if Jihun could be so positive about what happened to him then Jinwoo could laugh at himself too. 

After they had cleared off the last of their plates, a few of them went outside to look at the night sky. It was so clear out here, you could see hundreds of stars shining in the sky, and Jinwoo felt at peace. Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last as long as he would have liked it too. Just as they were approaching their room, Myungjun started getting hyper and giggly again, but Jinwoo didn’t have the energy to ask him what was going on. It had been a long day, and he felt drained physically and emotionally from all the work they had done on top of his embarrassing incident. He opened the door to their room and was immediately greeted with the sight of a shirtless guy (with pretty impressive abs Jinwoo had to admit). Myungjun squawked a bit when he walked in behind him, but the guy (one of their FTG roommates his brain supplied) didn’t seem bothered. 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you! My name is Moonbin, I’m from FTG and I’ll be sharing with you guys tonight. You must be Jinwoo then? I met Myungjun earlier since we were both in the forest project group. Minnie is just in the bathroom doing his skin care routine, he should be out in a few minutes. I always tell him he doesn’t need to focus on his looks so much since he is naturally gorgeous but he insists. Anyway I hope you don’t mind I took the other top bunk, it looked like you guys had your beds already chosen?”

Jinwoo was surprised this guy - Moonbin - barely breathed in between sentences. Myungjun just nodded from beside him, even he took breaks in between hyperactive monologues like that. Moonbin smiled brightly and his eyes creased up into little crescents, he seemed to pause for a moment almost as if he was thinking about something. Then he looked down at himself and realised he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“OH MY GOSH I’M SO SORRY AM I MAKING YOU UNCOMFORTABLE?!! LET ME PUT A SHIRT ON OH, WOW I REALLY AM SO SO SORRY!!”

He was yelling and seemed to be quite embarrassed, he sprinted over to his bunk and quickly pulled on a shirt. It was a very loose tank top, but it was better. Jinwoo heard Myungjun let out a small sigh beside him, and one look at his friend confirmed his face was quite flushed from the encounter. Not that Jinwoo could blame him, Moonbin was pretty attractive and seemed like a nice guy. In order to make sure the atmosphere didn’t get too awkward, Jinwoo smiled and went to his own bunk to get his sleep wear.

“You don’t need to apologise dude, if I had abs like yours I would walk around shirtless too!”

Myungjun snorted at that, he knew Jinwoo was in good shape from all his dancing and understood he was trying to break the tension. Myungjun went to sit on Jinwoo’s bed as well, and the three of them started to talk a little about nothing in particular. It mainly consisted of Jinwoo and Moonbin discussing dance and Myungjun occasionally interrupting with some lame joke. Moonbin had convinced Jinwoo to show off his abs too (“it’s only fair, you’ve seen mine!”) when the door to the bathroom opened. He looked up and promptly fell on his butt for the second time that day, for the same reason. Eunwoo walked out of the bathroom in a t-shirt and shorts, obviously ready for bed, his hair was slightly damp and his skin was glowing. His cheeks were slightly pink when he looked at Jinwoo, and then he realised he had done the same as Moonbin earlier and was currently shirtless. As much as his brain was screaming for him to move and cover himself up, or throw himself out the window whichever was easier, his body refused to comply. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting on the ground staring at Eunwoo, and being stared back at, before Myungjun threw his sleep clothes at his head and Moonbin burst into a fit of giggles. 

“Ummm, yeah right ok, so I’ll just go and get changed and brush my teeth and everything now, yup ok. Sorry about that, and sorry about earlier too.”

He was babbling as he scrambled to his feet and shuffled to the bathroom, his cheeks coloured bright red. As he shut the door behind him he wanted to scream in frustration, the universe really had it out for him on this trip, this was two embarrassing moments involving the same super cute guy. For a moment, the thought of locking himself in the bathroom and not coming out until the trip was over passed through his head, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Myungjun may be small, but he was determined when he wanted to be. That plan of action would come to a very quick end.

Then Jinwoo thought of the stories Jihun had told them all over dinner. Despite making a fool of himself several times in front of Seungjun, the taller guy still wanted to talk to him and even laughed at his antics. Jinwoo took a deep breath to calm himself, he may have embarrassed himself in front of Eunwoo, but he was not going to let that stop him from possibly becoming friends with the guy. Moonbin was really nice and if he could at least get along a little less awkwardly with Eunwoo he might be able to keep up a friendship with the two of them. With a plan in mind, Jinwoo got ready for bed and steeled himself to go back out to the room. 

When he walked out of the bathroom, he had been expecting his three roommates for the night to be sitting around their bunks talking, or even for Eunwoo to have left in a worse case scenario. Jinwoo certainly was not expecting to see the taller student still standing where he had left him facing away from the bathroom door. He looked over Eunwoo’s shoulder towards the beds and found Myungjun and Moonbin trying to suppress their giggles into a pillow. Knowing his friend, this did not bode well for his plan of becoming tentative friends with the two FTG boys.

“MJ, is everything ok?”

At the sound of his voice, Eunwoo jumped and spun around to face him. His cheeks were still dusted a rosy pink, and his eyes were wide. Jinwoo caught his eyes quickly flicking down to his chest, and the brown haired boy seemed to let out a small shaky sigh and looked up (or was it down?) to meet Jinwoo’s eyes. 

“Umm, hi? We were in the same group for the tour earlier on? I’m Eunwoo, and you’re Jinwoo?”

His voice was a little uncertain, and he ended every sentence like it was a question. But it was a cute voice that matched his cute face, and Jinwoo felt the butterflies return in force to his stomach. This was a positive sign though right? Eunwoo wasn’t running away and seemed to want to talk to him. Or maybe he was just being polite, he seemed like he could be that kind of person too. There was only one way to find out for sure though.

“Yeah, we were on the beach team together, although we didn’t see much of each other out there. I’m Jinwoo, and ummm, I’m sorry for running into you earlier. And for flashing you just there, I really didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. It’s just - the universe has a thing against me on field trips.”

That last part definitely caught Eunwoo’s attention anyway. His brows furrowed and he looked at Jinwoo with confusion. He had opened his mouth to question him, but before he could get a word out, Myungjun butted into their conversation. Jinwoo may have forgotten there were others in the room.

“Lay off the whole ‘the-universe-is-against-me’ thing already would you Jinjin? We’ve already told you - you’re just being paranoid. It’s not fate or whatever conspiring to make you fall over and embarrass yourself on every field trip you’ve ever been on.”

Jinwoo scowled at his friend, he had never believed him or his conviction against this. Sanha used to believe him and even worked with him to find ways to rid himself of the curse. But as soon as Sanha met Myungjun, he changed his mind and became another non-believer - despite seeing first hand the embarrassing situations he always ended up in. Jinwoo never really had anyone else he was close enough to that he could confide this in; Minhyuk was so practical and since he never saw any incidents, Jinwoo couldn’t ask his cousin to believe him. And yet, here he was spilling his deepest secret to a practical stranger, a cute one sure, but that shouldn’t be enough to make Jinwoo trust him like this. Especially not after he embarrassed himself in front of him. But there was just something about Eunwoo that Jinwoo couldn’t help but confide in him.

“The universe is out to get you too? I thought I was the only one, none of my friends will believe me. How long have you been cursed?”

When had Eunwoo leaned in so close? Jinwoo wasn’t sure, he was so caught up in his own internal crisis he really hadn’t noticed the taller student moving into his space until he spoke. There was a tone to his voice that made Jinwoo believe he wasn’t messing with him though, Eunwoo really had experience with this too.

“Ye - yeah, since about ten years ago. Any field trip I have ever gone on has ended with me embarrassing myself in some way. There was one really bad time about three years ago; I tripped over something and sprained my ankle, and then as I stood up I fell into a competition adjudicator and got coffee spilt on my chest and his pricey suit. That was not a fun day.”

Why was he revealing this to Eunwoo? No one except the dance team, Myungjun and Sanha was ever supposed to be privy to that information. Yet he was laying his soul bare to this guy he just met. It was whispered into the space between them, so he was fairly confident Moonbin hadn’t heard him, but it made it seem more intimate because of that.

“So it was the universe that caused you to bump into me and fall over then? That makes sense, it falls in line with my curse too.”

Eunwoo was whispering now too, and he had somehow gotten even closer. He wasn’t blushing anymore, but his eyes were still wide- this time sparkling with interest. Jinwoo wondered what on earth this angel could have done to be cursed by the universe. Actually, come to think of it, he wasn’t sure what Eunwoo’s curse was either. He cautiously questioned him, not wanting to make him feel pressured to reveal it.  
“You have no idea how relieved I am to have someone to finally share this with! Ever since about eight years ago, whenever I go anywhere outside of my usual schedule I cause people injuries. I have had girls collapse after talking to me, and guys run into doors or walls when I smile at them. Once I took part in a talent show for charity, and the announcer fell off the stage after my performance!”

His jaw dropped and he nodded his head sympathetically. The universe could be cruel like that, poor Eunwoo probably felt so responsible for all those people. At least with Jinwoo, the only one who usually had to suffer was himself. After all this time though, he felt his heart lift at the thought of having someone to share his troubles with. Through the haze of his bliss, he could hear Myungun’s hysterical laughter, and another laugh he assumed must be Moonbin’s. Eunwoo obviously heard it too, he straightened up and turned around to the pair. 

“Binnie, what are you laughing at? You’re the one who never believes me, and now that I finally found someone who understands you’re just being rude.”

This caused the other two to collapse on top of each other on the floor with laughter. Jinwoo had enough of the mocking, for now, he sprinted over and threw himself on top of his best friend, who started shrieking at him. The pillow he had been using to hide his laughter was now Jinwoo’s weapon of choice against him, scolding Myungjun for being so loud and inconsiderate. Moonbin was being caught in the fray as well, and when Myungjun hid behind his back, Jinwoo paused before swinging the pillow down. It wasn’t really his place to hit this guy he had just met, but he was still laughing at him and was even sheltering his traitorous best friend. The dilemma in his head was solved when Eunwoo launched himself at Moonbin, grabbing him around the middle and rolling away, leaving Jinwoo with a clear shot at Myungjun again. Their scuffling only lasted another minute or two, when the beaten pair of giggly students surrendered to their fate. Jinwoo sat back feeling a little out of breath, he was sure his face was red and hair messed up, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much.

“Ok Binnie, it’s answer time. What is so funny about your best friend and a cute student from another school both being cursed by the universe, hmm? Jinwoo here believes me, so that makes him eligible to take best friend privileges away from you, you know?”

When Jinwoo looked around, he found Eunwoo pinning Moonbin to the ground and huffing slightly. He didn’t know what to react to first; the fact that he had just been called cute by an actual angel, or the suggested promotion to best friend rank. Before he could even process what was going on, Moonbin had flipped them over (he didn’t seem to be tired from their rolling about), and Myungjun had flattened him to the ground and was sitting on his back.

“Ooof - MJ get off me! This isn’t fair, you surrendered!”

His friend just gave his weird evil laugh and shared a look with Moonbin over his head. Then he felt the weight roll off him and he was being pulled up into a sitting position. Across from them, the two FTG students were sitting up too. Eunwoo still looked gorgeous, even with his hair a mess and a light sweat on his forehead. He was pouting though, which made him look even cuter than Jinwoo thought was possible.

“Minnie, my completely oblivious best friend since forever. How many times have I told you, people getting injured around you is not a curse from the universe, but rather one of your good-looks? And before you can pull the whole ‘it only happens when I stray from my schedule’ crap - that’s because people who see you regularly have become accustomed to your face, and when you’re on a schedule they can prepare themselves for when they see you. Poor Jinwoo here was obviously so shocked by your face he fell over, not a big deal.”

Jinwoo felt himself turn red, and he went to protest that wasn’t (entirely) true but Myungjun beat him to it, covering his mouth with a pillow and speaking up instead.

“I can assure you, that’s exactly what happened. Jinjin has a bad track record with handsome guys and making a fool of himself in front of them. And as for his ‘curse’ - it’s just his big clumsy feet that he always manages to trip over, and his lack of shame until someone points it out. The fact it only happens on field trips is both a coincidence and a testament to the fact that he is so used to one environment he makes a bigger fool of himself than usual when he’s outside of it.”

Myungjun probably would have had more to say on the matter, but a sharp elbow to his stomach shut him up effectively. It also caused him to drop the pillow from Jinwoo’s mouth which was a bonus. He was going to argue against what his friend had said, but Eunwoo started talking then and he felt his breath get knocked from his chest.

“I guess you guys are right, we’re not cursed by the universe. It’s just our own issues and paranoia.”

How could he change his mind so quickly? Jinwoo had finally thought he found someone he could share all this with and it was snatched away from him in the blink of an eye. The pricking feeling of tears started behind his eyes, he opened and shut his mouth a few times in shock and shame. He was about to hang his head when he caught Eunwoo’s quick wink in his direction. It was a playful wink, and although Jinwoo wasn’t the best at reading body language or gestures, he got the feeling that wink meant Eunwoo didn’t seriously believe what he was saying. So Jinwoo just nodded his head and played along, voicing his agreement to Eunwoo’s statement. Their respective best friends seemed to be satisfied, if not a little confused, by their compliance. All four students picked themselves up off the floor, and Myungjun and Moonbin took their turns using the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When they were all eventually settled in their bunks, it was very late into the night, so they decided to go straight to sleep and talk more in the morning. Jinwoo bade good night to his best friend in the bed above him, and to the two FTG students (who would hopefully become his friends too) in the bunk beds across the room. After a while, he could hear Myungjun’s gentle snores coming from the top bunk, but he himself couldn’t get to sleep. There were so many thoughts running through his head, mostly about Eunwoo and how he believed him about the curse. Just as Jinwoo was finally feeling sleepy, he felt his blanket lift and a weight join him on the mattress. 

“Jinwoo, are you sleeping? I hope not because I have so much I want to talk about! I had to wait for Binnie to fall asleep though.”

His brain short-circuited a little, and he opened his eyes in the semi-darkness. The moonlight - which wasn’t fully blocked by their rooms curtains - illuminated Eunwoo’s silhouette beside him. The taller boy had crawled into his bunk in the dead of night because he wanted to talk to Jinwoo about their curses. He really did believe him, and while Jinwoo should have felt a little embarrassed by their proximity, all he felt was excitement. The pair talked for hours in hushed whispers, lying face-to-face in a bed not made for two. They each revealed all the times they had been struck down by their curses, and how many things they had tried to appease the universe and break their misfortunes. It was such a relief to share all the thoughts he had kept hidden from his other friends, with someone who really understood what he was going through. Jinwoo fell asleep to the gentle rhythm of Eunwoo’s breathing beside him, and his heart felt lighter than ever before.

(If their friends had screamed any louder the next morning when they woke up, it would have probably broken the windows. But Jinwoo couldn’t really blame them, he wanted to scream too when he found himself being cuddled by Eunwoo in the small bunk. Not that he would ever admit to it, he enjoyed the feeling of the taller students broad warm chest against his back, and his arms holding him around the middle. He certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it happening again.)


End file.
